MEA Recommended Candidates for School Board

9.27.18 - Joshua Buckley MEA President

The MEA had the opportunity to meet with the candidates running for the two seats on the Mesa Schools Governing Board. After looking over each candidates written responses to our questionnaire, conducting in person interviews, and a healthy discussion the MEA PAC give their recommendation to the MEA Exec Board. As a board we accepted their recommendation and would like to share them with you.

We know that there are only two open seats on the board but we believe that these three candidates out of the four running are exceptional and would encourage you to learn about them and their campaigns. Help them in anyway you can and vote in this years Governing Board Election.

Welcome Back!

Dear colleagues,

I hope you had a restful and productive summer. I hope you were able to spend time with your loved ones and recharge for this new school year. I know many of you worked in your classrooms, picked up a second job, planned with your colleagues, or attended conferences while trying to squeeze in some personal time. I want to thank you for your dedication to your students, your schools, and your communities. What we do as educators is no small task. We pour ourselves into our profession because we know those students who walk through our doors need us to be the best we can be. So thank you for all you do.

This year is going to be a great year for the MEA and for Mesa. We have lots of work to do and we will need your voices and your help to accomplish all we have before us. We have a Bond, an override, and School Board elections on the Ballot in November. Elections that will directly impact what we do every day in our classrooms. We have meet and con-fer in second semester, where we help decide where Mesa’s funding goes and our own working conditions. We felt the power of coming together last year as we wore red and stood up for our students, our schools, and our communities. I hope that unity does not fade. I know there may be disagreements over who to vote for and what to vote for but if we remember that each of us want the same outcome, the best education for our students and a high level of respect for our profession, we can’t be torn apart. Facing problems easily unites us but solutions to those problems can divide us if we let them. Don’t let them. Know that your colleagues ultimately want the same thing you do.

MEA is not just me. Its not just the executive board. Its not just our faculty reps across the district. MEA is WE. It is each and every one of us. Whether you add your voice to a survey we send out, attend a meeting or community forum, rep-resent your colleagues on a district committee, act as your campuses faculty rep, or just be that MEA member on your campus who is a friend, mentor, or sounding board. MEA is all of us. Because when we come together we have a pow-erful voice. A voice we can use to advocate for our students. A voice we can use to speak up for educators. A voice we can use to make Mesa the best place to educate and learn. Our students, schools, and communities need us to be there for them. MEA is there, each and every one of us, in both small ways and large ways, to help better educate our students, advocate for our profession, and serve our communities.

I hope that this year you continue to feel united with your colleagues on your campus. Stay positive for yourself, your students, and your fellow educators. Almost four hundred educators are joining us this year. Be that friendly face they need as they start the school year, maybe for the first time or maybe just in a new school and district. We can lift each other up. Have an awesome year. You’ll hear from me and the executive board as we kick off our year, plan some new things, and get ready to make this year the best one yet.

Joshua Buckley

Mesa Education Association President

jrbuckley@mpsaz.org

joshua.buckley82@gmail.com

(480) 833-8400

Made with the new Google Sites, an effortless way to create beautiful sites.